#put it in my backpocket for

[animentality]

Your AO3 handle reveal got my hopes up for some filthy Garashir or at least a Dukat fic… I’m assuming the evil lizard and human fascination transfers from Durgetash? If not…. what are your DS9 ships? Inquiring minds are desperate to know 🙈

Sorry, anon. I do ship Garashir, and it has INSANE angst and porn potential...but I don't tend to write Star Trek fanfiction, because I first watched Star Trek when I was 9.

I have a hard time sexualizing the characters because of it. Like obviously, as an adult, I can say Garashir is sexy...I can share Quodo sex, and horny posting about all the characters... but my brain can't writing PORN of them MYSELF, because I struggle with this mental block of...those are my uncles?

I grew up with them? That crew...they're my family...my friends... I'll watch em be goofy on Tumblr, but...I don't know. I myself have a mental block that keeps me from writing porn of any of the characters from DS9, or actually, any of the Star Treks.

That's just my burden to bear.

Now that being said...

I did feel a twinge in my gut...when I re-watched DS9 recently...and there's that episode...with Sisko and Dukat trapped on a planet together....and uh. Dukat is losing his fucking mind, and Sisko is injured...and can't get...away from this madman...

Heh.

Hehehe. Well.

Enemies to...lovers...except...not exactly...

Anyway.

It was a passing fancy, but no one really likes that particular toxic ship, nor should they.

So uh, let's pretend I never said that. I'm ashamed to even say I thought about it. I'm just THAT toxic.

[ultalliance]

What if I made Bucky Agent Venom? What if I just got crazy with it?

[tales-from-elysivm]

Can you do some headcanons or stories on arcane? Specifically Vi or Sevika if your comfortable. I was just wondering but if you don't want to then you don't have to, you have free will.

Know that you're loved!

★。／ !bark like you want it! ＼。★

pairing: vi x f!reader, sevika x f!reader (separate)

fandom: arcane

word count: 1,470

tw: canon typical swearing/slang, some light spoiler warnings, and MDNI content, mainly because we know these are some dominant ass women ;) 

THIS IS NSFW CONTENT! BE WARNED!

song title: bark like you want it by sir mix-a-lot

notes: i love my girl vi so this request was a given, thank you anon! Hope you enjoy! :D I normally didn't like Sevika as much, but I will admit, writing her head canons for this post definitely made me reconsider

! be sure to like and reblog if you enjoyed !

↳˗ˏviˎ˗ ↴

Vi is (without a doubt) very rough around the edges

She’s street-smart but she doesn’t really know what to do when it comes to actual romantic relationships, sex is easy, feelings are hard 

Her time in Stillwater makes her distrustful of people, along with her generally traumatic and difficult childhood, so it will probably take a while for her to begin to see you in a less-than-threat way

After that things are pretty smooth

You don’t really know where the split between ‘friendship’ and ‘relationship’ is, because they both include her joking, flirtatious personality ranging from skirting touches on your thighs and up your back, or teasing pet names like ‘sweetheart’, ‘cupcake’ and ‘love’

Other than that she’s very protective of you, especially if you live in Zaun

If you go out on errands she’ll always make sure she’s conveniently there at the times you like to go, able to loop an arm around your waist and guide you through the crowds

If someone is stupid enough to try and pull something on either one of you, Vi is not above beating the shit out of someone to keep them from laying a hand on you

I have a feeling that she’d confess to you accidentally in the middle of a fight

Perhaps she had been disappearing for long periods of time, and coming back bloodied and injured, refusing to tell you anything of her adventures (mainly because she doesn’t want to worry you). And eventually you pester her for a bit too long and begin a full verbal fight, where she suddenly blurts that she loves you

Now as a lover?

The teasing banter still remains, her little playful nicknames too, if anything they get worse. But she gets more confident with her touches, more deliberate. A hand in your backpocket while you’re walking, an arm around your shoulder, pinching your ass when you’re waiting outside a store, this girl has no shame

! mdni content below !

Now, i have a feeling that Vi isn’t really uneducated when it comes to sex

If anything i feel like she’s a fast learner-

The first time you actually lie together, Vi is sure to take it at your own pace, eager to please beneath a taunting smile, even if you don’t know what you like at first, she’s likely to find it quickly 

I personally don’t see Vi as owning too many sex toys - if any at all - but i think she would 100% favour using her fingers to anything else

Just the way you clench down on them, how she can use the rough calluses on the pad of her thumb on your clit to her advantage, and how deep she can pry, anything to make you scream for her

To be honest? I also 10000% expect her to try and flip you over and put you in a chokehold with her forearm tight against your throat, just adding enough delicious pressure to hitch your breath, but never enough to hurt too much

9/10

Her oral game would be fucking good too, i can tell. But she’d probably prefer to finger you or use a strap-on so she can continue to tease you with all these sinful little things she can come up with while she fucks into you

I’d say more of a biter, but she can still eat you out like a starving woman

Oral game 7/10

Aftercare is important to her, always making sure that she wasn’t too rough with you, cleaning you up, running you a bath or just lying with you to cuddle. Wants to make sure you know that you’re more important to her than some casual fling, and that she wants to ensure your happiness above anything

(Also gives you some balm for the definite bruises on your thighs and throat :D)

↳˗ˏsevikaˎ˗ ↴

Sevika is… intense

In all honesty, probably started as enemies

She probably wouldn’t want anything to do with you unless you already worked with Silco, so we could say you started in the shimmer warehouses, helping to distribute it throughout Zaun

You get your work done effectively, so Sevika overall sees you as a valuable position in the business, and keeps you around without much complaint

At some point Silco requested you deliver a hefty batch of shimmer to a more dangerous part of the Undercity, and sent Sevika with you to ensure no messes were left behind

Safe to say, you were ambushed

Despite Sevika being there to ‘protect’ you, you’re still able to hold your own, displaying proficient skill with your weapons against bandits who thought they could steal some of the shimmer vials. In the carnage, Sevika decides begrudgingly that she has respect for you

From there, it’s less of a ‘friendship’ and more of a drinking buddy situation

She doesn’t often tolerate the presence of others in her private time, so you label it as a friendship initially

She’s slightly more soft-spoken when she’s alone with you, and shares her cigars with you while she’s gambling, which often earns a strange look from her opponents as you hover over her mechanical shoulder with her cigar hanging from between your lips to see her hand, a bit too close

But Sevika lets you be without anything more than a bit of a grumble

I don’t think she’d even particularly say outright that she loves you

What happens is - instead - that you both have a drinking binge at the pub one night, after a successful night of gambling, and you both get absolutely shit-faced

While drunk she drags you back to her house and the night is filled with hazy sex, enthusiastic makeouts and early-morning cigarette smoke

You try to sneak out the next morning, expecting it to only be a one-night thing

She catches you (i headcanon that she’s a pretty light sleeper, but i suppose that could be said for most Zaunites). I don’t think she’d even say it then, just drag your ass back to bed for a (consensual) round two

After that you go to the bar together as normal, go about your business, now with the added bonus of Sevika protectively snarling at a drunk guy hitting on you by saying ‘that’s my spouse, fuck off’

(And of course, with plenty of sneaky sex between your deliveries and hurried makeouts :D)

! mdni content below !

BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS MFS, THIS SHIT IS KINKY

I would like to clarify, you will never top in this situation, Sevika would rather die than bottom to anyone, no matter how much she loves you

Spanking, spanking, spanking, spanking–

Hickeys, bruises, bite marks, the red tracks of her nails over your back, just anything that would leave even the most fleeting mark on your skin

That being said, would also 100% leave hickeys on places she knows you can’t hide easily

Definitely into sex toys (ball gags, bondage, strap ons and vibrators with little remotes she can keep in her pocket just in case, she especially likes to plant down one of those dildos with the suction cups and get you to ride it, all the while begging for her to just touch you, but she refuses, smoking as she watches you cry out for her)

She also likes crying-

I think she’d prefer to have you from behind, your back against her chest, ramming into you with one of her favourite straps, one hand pinching at your nipples, tweaking them between her fingers, and the other rolling tight circles on your clit, sometimes switching one out to wrap around the column of your throat

Definitely into edging on most days, and will resort to overstim if she’s happy with the work you’ve done in the day

Risky sex is definitely her thing, in her office in Silco’s base, in the warehouse on the crates of shimmer, under her desk, you on your knees to service her

She’s especially rough, and absolutely loves some degradation, and the way it makes you clench around her strap or her fingers, your eyes rolling back into your head while you scream for her

Aftercare is rarely over-the-top

She’ll cuddle you if you ask her explicitly but she prefers to share a cigar with you, or blowing smoke into your open mouth while you breathe against her bare chest

If she’s been unable to fuck you for some time, she’ll clean you up after about four or five rounds, mainly by eating you out until you end up giving her another two, but she’ll make sure you’re clean before you pass out anyway

Despite everything, Sevika will always make sure she doesn’t go to far

If anyone asks though, she will absolutely deny how she always makes sure you remember your safeword before you have sex after a makeout

thanks for the request anon!

if you have any more requests don't hesitate to ask :)

[annadiplosis]

A few months ago I posted a couple photos of my index cards, saying I still didn’t know how and where I’d keep them, and I’ve since developed an Archiving System that combines the cards with a digital spreadsheet and has taken more hours than I will ever admit.

So, since I don’t have a “notebook system” to speak of, I'd like to share the way I archive my journals / sketchbooks / whatever you wanna call them, because I’m very proud of it, and who knows, someone might find it helpful :)

WHY I NEED AN ARCHIVING SYSTEM

The reason I don’t have a notebook system is because I use my books for absolutely everything, from sketches to grocery lists and journaling. It is crucial to me to not have any restrictions or expectations when it comes to my books, and that’s how I’ve managed to fill 43 of them over the years.

But of course, when you’ve been using notebooks without a system for most of your life and you want to read a specific entry, you can easily spend a full hour flipping through a sea of paper until you stumble upon those notes on the Bubonic Plague you took in 2011 or whatever you were trying to find.

SO HERE’S WHAT I DO

When I finish a notebook, I try to determine what its most important contents are: stuff I might want to reference in the future (project ideas, meeting notes) or is very characteristic of a period in my life (friends' drawings, travel logs). Every single page contributes to making the notebook what it is and gives it a unique personality, but not all of them are gonna be keepers, and that's fine (I'd even say fundamental, at least in my case).

These are the extremely generic categories I sort my Chosen Entries into. It's similar to the dot system so many people use, just applied retroactively:

🟣 Study notes 🔵 Work 🟢 Personal 🟡 Projects 🔴 Misc

And here's where the real archiving begins. This info goes into:

1. THE INDEX CARDS

(I always write them in Catalan; this one's a mockup and most of these are not real entries)

A little piece of cardboard with the notebook number, its start and end dates, and most important contents. I keep each index card inside its corresponding notebook, either in its own backpocket or an adhesive one I stick there myself.

This way, whenever I want to take a quick look through the book, I get a general idea of its contents at first glance. Sometimes, just holding it in my hand and reading the index card brings me back to the time when I was keeping it, and that time-travel feeling gives me a rush like no other. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm crazy about my notebooks.

2. THE SPREADSHEET

Same as before, just a couple more pieces of info (number of months, physical description) added to a file with the rest of my notebooks' data. Again, these are not real entries for privacy and language reasons, but they're very similar to the kind of stuff I do keep. The spreadsheet helps me find specific entries with a simple ctrl+f, and it's also a bird's-eye view of my progress through the years as a notebook keeper. I can see when my interests shift, how long some of my most important projects took to come to fruition, and even similar types of entries that repeat every few years which I wasn't even aware of before putting it all together. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

I hope this was useful, or interesting at the very least! If you’re a notebook keeper trying to find their own archiving system, my main advice would be to start early so you don’t have to deal with almost two decades of material like I did :’)

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

Good luck 🖤

[omppupiiras]

a quickkkk rough translation if anyone's interested:

"I put ketchup on almost all foods"

Artist Jere Pöyhönen is not a morning person and he uses the snooze-button, and you shouldn't ask for cleaning tips from him. In his daily life he tries to avoid unnecessary complaining, because at the end of the day things are pretty good.

In the morning when I wake up, I hit the snooze button and keep laying in bed. Sometimes I snooze for 1-2 hours if I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. I am for sure a night person, so my mornings are slow.

For breakfast I usually eat porridge, to which I add peanut butter and honey, and with it I have a cup of berry tea. Breakfast is something I've tried to get better at, because when you're in a rush it's easy to skip it.

To me it's a luxury to spend relaxed time with my close ones. The best thing is to spend a slow evening with friends, for example a barbeque party. Friends and food - there's no better combo!

I get inspiration for cooking from my mom. Mom likes trying different foods, and everytime I visit I grab a few recipes for my backpocket. Last time I made a chicken and potato casserole dish inspired by my mom.

In my shopping basket you'll often find chili-cheese-sausages and an energy drink. The latter I've tried very hard to consume less. They're not good for your teeth or wallet.

My specialty dish is thai mince meat with rice. For seasoning I use oyster sauce, garlic, sugar, basil and chili. When I was younger I liked to bake a lot, but I stopped when I moved out on my own.

I wish I'd learn to eat more regularly, every few hours. When your job is being on the move, sometimes the times between meals get too long. When you're hungry it's easier to snack on treats, like chocolate and chips.

My normal home evening ends in front of the TV either on the living room couch or in my bedroom. Usually I always watch a tv show or a movie before bed.

My best money saving tip is buy discounted food items at a good price. Then it's handy to immediately put them in the freezer at home and cook later.

I scrimp on bread toppings, like cheeses and cold cuts. I'm not brand loyal with them and usually choose what i grab first.

I get fancy with my glögi, I am its biggest consumer! It's my favorite drink and I have it all year.

My everday superpower is that I don't take things too seriously. Everyday I am grateful for what I get to do for a living, and I don't ever take it for granted. In general I think it's good to avoid complaining too much and try to keep a positive mindset: at the end of the day things are pretty good.

I clean at home about once a week, but I admit, I could be better. I don't spend a lot of time at home, so sometimes my clothes get everywhere and the dishes get piled up in the sink. You shouldn't ask for cleaning tips from me!

My guilty pleasure is squirting ketchup in mince meat soup. It tastes excellent in there. In general I have ketchup with pretty much all foods.

My Pirkka hack is using baking soda to get rid of stains. It's especially great with textiles. With baking soda I've gotten rid of many stains and dirt off of the couch.

[aryxchse]

omg congrats on 400 followers!! :0

ur writing is so wonderful and it’s so well deserved!!!

for your little celebration, could i possibly get a love talk with jason grace :3

cabin seven girlie here :’) like they’re just cuddling in bed and she’s warm (because daughter of apollo and the sun 😮‍💨) and maybe he’s showering her in kisses or pulling her closer because he’s cold or something haha

love ur work!!!!

the sun is engaged to the sky.

a / n ; hey baby! love you so much for the compliments, i'm glad you think that way🫶🏻 hope you'll like it my fellow sunshine girl!!!

the cabin 1 was always somehow cold.

as a daughter of apollo, whenever you entered here you felt like you have to warm this place up. for yourself and for your boyfriend jason.

this was another day of you using jason's cabin like it's your own. your cabin was full of people who tried to sing, or make music, loudly. so what else you supposed to do?

when you entered the cabin, the cold air made you shiver. you looked at the zeus statue and sighed in dissapointment. at least make your cabin warm, dickhead.

you opened the curtains jason closed before he left, and let the sun enter here with your powers. you speacifically pointed jason's bed, 'cause he always adored the warmness you created for him.

smiling in satisfaction with your work, you jumped on jason's bed and get in a comfortable position. you pulled out your little backpocket notebook to write some poems for him, while waiting for him to arrive.

not after a while, jason entered the cabin. he smiled at the effect you had in cabin 1, so he didn't waste any time to rush to you.

"hey sunshine," he called, ruining your personal space and laying on top of you. a little 'oof' left your lips as he put his whole weight on you, but you didn't mind. "hey wind boy."

he kissed your neck lightly as you put the blanket on top of him, totally caging him with the warmness. he immediatly hugged you tighter, caging yourself with his big body.

"you're cold," you said, caressing his biceps. jason only hummed in response, too tired because gods now what. he entered his cold hands in your shirt and you giggled as you jolted up. he chuckled with you but used his body weight to press you down again.

"and you're warm." he said, using your heat to warm his hands. his feet find yours, and right now jason was using you as his personal body heater. "so warm, always." he murmured to your neck. "my warm girl."

you smiled, probably getting warmer with his words. maybe he did that on purpose, who knows?

"poor boy," you whispered, playing with his blonde hair. you seemed to know all the ways to melt him, he thought.

you picket out your notebook again to entertain yourself as jason slept peacefully in your warmness. every once in a while he left light kisses to your neck, maybe your colarbone. and if he's not lazy, to your lips.

[p-taryn-dactyl]

maybe for way down we go somehow agatha manipulates everyone/the evidence so it looks like she's innocent/falsely accused or reader has to hide her bc she doesn't want aggie to go back to jail idk I'm sorry lol i just love reading your work

way down we go: the aftermath (ii)

a/n: ok confess did you read my mind? but really, i’m so glad you sent this in bc i was wondering if the ideas i had were bad😭 but great minds think alike and so now here’s part 2 hehehe (also thank you anon! i’m so happy you enjoy my work!) edit: dear god i am so embarrassed by what i have written here but also i hope some of y'all like it?? oh god imma go climb in a hole christ maybe i should go back to church idk word count: 1.6k warning(s): first part of this fic is smut, or what i consider smut (ok idk why it's harder for me to write spicy shit on this blog when ive written it so many other times) the rest is back to normal production of murder, crime and debauchery; like a second or two of angst; im making so much of this shit up plz don't come for me

Once she started, it felt like she would never stop. 

You didn’t want her to. 

Your hands grasped Agatha’s neck and shoulders, trembling as she brought crashing waves of pleasure over you. With eyes screwed shut, your head leaned back, hitting the wall with a soft thud. But your wife wouldn’t allow you to rest. With the hand not pumping into you, she grasped your chin, forcing you to look at her as you pried your eyes open.

“Look at me,” her voice commanded softly as the heel of her hand pressed into your clit, drawing a surprised whimper from your lips as her pace became slow and languid, “I want to see what I do to you, what only I do to you.”

At her words, there was a question radiating in her eyes, along with a sudden hardness that took your remaining breath away. You tightened your grip on your wife, following her instructions and looking deep into her eyes. 

“There was no one else, there’s always been no one else. Only you.” 

Agatha nodded slightly, increasing her pace once more and looking proud of herself as your face twisted with pleasure. 

“Only me.”

Agatha added a finger, continuously brushing your bundle of nerves with the heel of her hand, relishing in your moans and how you wrapped your arms even tighter around her neck, bringing a hand to tangle in her hair and bring her into a crashing kiss. A battle for dominance was quickly lost as her tongue parted your lips, devouring you. You felt your mind grow hazy from pleasure, the hot coil in your abdomen threatening to snap. 

The ring of your phone interrupted everything. 

You felt it buzz in your backpocket, vibrating against the wall behind you. 

Agatha didn’t like your attention being taken away. 

She shifted, removing her fingers from you, much to your chagrin. You only had a moment to process before you were moved. In a blur, you now sat in the very chair Agatha once sat, your legs propped over her shoulders, your phone in her hand as she handed it to you. You furrowed your brow in confusion as you watched it ring, Agatha’s eyes never leaving yours. 

“Answer it, we can’t have anyone worrying for you.” There was something in Agatha’s tone that you couldn’t decipher but you couldn’t go against what she told you to do. You put your phone to your ear, hitting the answer button. Darcy’s panicked ramblings flooded out, barely giving you time to answer any of her questions. 

“Did you see the news? Y/N, this is crazy. Do you think she escaped? Oh god with our luck she was behind it all! Where are you right now? Do you need company? Girl I can be over to your place so fast-”

You were quickly distracted from your best friend as you felt Agatha’s hands tighten on your thighs, pulling your pants and underwear down with her teeth. She only took a second to take in the sight in front of her, your glistening folds, wet from the pleasure she gave you. Then she dove straight in. You could barely contain your surprised squeal, slapping your free hand over your mouth. 

She was relentless, fingers parting your folds as her mouth covered your entire core, tongue going straight to your clit. It was like she was doing everything to get you to fall apart before her and you were oh so close.

"...Y/N, are you ok?"

It was like Darcy was speaking to you underwater, your focus purely on how your wife's head moved between your legs. Swallowing back a moan as Agatha's tongue flattened and lapped harshly at your folds, you gave your friend an answer.

"Yeah...I'm, I'm just shaken. Can I call you la-later?"

You could practically feel Darcy's hesitation through the phone but the second she agreed you hit the hang up button. Throwing your phone onto the floor somewhere, your hands tangled in Agatha's hair, encouraging her. You felt her smirking before she removed a hand from your thigh to slip two fingers into you, almost immediately finding that electric spot within you. Paired with her lips and tongue staying firmly suctioned onto your clit, you felt your orgasm crash into you and over you. Your mind and body felt seperated as you caught your breath, Agatha peeling herself away from you, coming up to kiss your forehead. She nuzzled you with her nose for a moment, the soft action sending you into a light sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The weeks that followed Agatha's return were nothing less than stressful. Constantly looking over your shoulder as you walked into your home, unplugging every and any device that could connect to internet, and ordering food but having them deliver to your neighbor finally made you snap one day at the lab.

You knew how to do it, you knew how to collect evidence, how to manipulate it wasn't exactly hard.

The issue was Darcy.

While she was a great friend, constantly checking in on you, making sure you were okay with your supposed serial killer ex-wife being on the run, she was the greatest obstacle in your goal.

One night, while the two of you had dinner, you mentioned this to Agatha, angry at yourself for being untruthfull to your friend.

"Well, I could always," Agatha made a gesture with her knife jokingly, smirking to herself as she cut into the steak. It was like all the air left the room, the reminder of what your wife was hitting you like a truck. At your silence, Agatha looked up, her eyes widening at your expression. With a shaking hand, you pointed at your wife and shook your head.

"No, no, you don't-" your voice broke as everything swirled around in your mind, "You don't joke about that. Definitely not about Darcy."

Agatha opened her mouth to respond but you found yourself not wanting to hear her voice. Some petty, evil, part of you called from the dark part of your mind to call the police. Turn Agatha in once more and remove the weight from your shoulders.

You ignored that thought, instead pushing your chair away from the table before Agatha could speak and walking to the bedroom, calling over your shoulder.

"I'm going to bed, I need to think."

You got into your pajamas, going through your nightly routine with a lump in your throat, like your flight or fight was being triggered. It took a while for you to notice that Agatha had yet to come to bed, the time well into the night. Making your way into the living room, you took some steadying breaths. While your reaction was valid, maybe you should've stayed to listen to what she had to say. When you crossed the threshold into the living room, you saw that Agatha had gotten some spare blankets out of a closest, making bed on the couch. She too was awake and smiled at you hesitantly when she noticed you standing in the walkway.

"I didn't know if you would appreciate my company tonight." Her voice was soft, almost as if she was trying to be careful. You crossed your arms, raising an eyebrow.

"I always appreciate your company, I didn't appreciate the comment you made."

Agatha nodded, slowly getting up from the couch to come stand in front of you, holding her hands up as if she wanted to hold you.

"It's too early for jokes, I understand."

At a peculiarly pointed glare, Agatha quickly added on,

"And Darcy is off limits, of course. I would never, I mean- she's safe, totally safe."

Some part of you wanted to laugh at your flustered serial killer wife but you simply held out a hand, pulling her back to your bedroom, your plan and anxiety of tomorrow swirling in your head.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'd never been more grateful for a robbery before. Since you specialized in murder or special victim cases, you were able to stay behind in the lab while Darcy and Jimmy went to case the gas station and talk to the poor teen who was at the register. You reviewed the two key pieces of evidence that were used to hammer the final nail in Agatha's coffin. A strand of hair and the blood profile. Anything else was circumstancial or based on a loose psychological profile.

The hair was easy enough to make doubtful as it wasn't a reliable source by itself. The follicle of the strand wasn't even attatched, meaning the only use this had was to be compared with a strand of Agatha's hair taken during the trial process.

One click and the hair was digitally gone.

The blood, however, was the tricky part. It was a 94% match to your wife, meaning it could either be her or a relative. You felt your stomach drop when you realized this could be the evidence that ruins everythings.

Until you noticed something.

In your report, in the other forensic report, and in the court transcript, it said the other blood profile was heavily mixed into the victims. You did a cross reference between Agatha's supposed blood and the victims, the result showing that one couldn't be distinguished from the other. Agatha's blood was triggered as the closest possible match of the two blood profiles, even though realistically the computer should've said the evidence was inconclusive.

An excuse formed in your head.

You, and your team, were so focused on catching the serial killer that had been terrorizing the town, you had overlooked key inconsistencies, instead focusing on the one true suspect you'd had on the case.

One click. The blood was deemed inconclusive.

One click, the case was reopened.

One click, all evidence of Agatha being guilty was erased.

One click, no one would know it was you who had manipulated the system.

One click.

Agatha was officially innocent.

a/n: was this ok? lie to me and say yes, wait no don't do that I'll get happy then remember you're lying and then ill be sad. on another note, r is officially a criminal whoo. i do have something planned for this series but can y'all tell me if you genuinely like this series? many thanks 🙏

[lilisouless]

Wesper slow dancing

Wylan leaning on Jesper: this is good actually

Jesper: yeah , it is...

Wylan: Jes...did you just put your hand on my backpocket?

Jesper: yep

Wylan: did you do it because unless you do something to annoy me the dance will get too romantic and you´ll cry out?

Jesper: maybe...

Wylan: and the fact that i have grown to learn to read you so well is making you want to cry now?

Jesper tearing up: maybe...

[cosyie]

Abby anderson x chubby! Reader

Abby w big butt reader

Abby honestly would jus be so touchy and grabby with your butt like ..

When you bend down to pick up your weapon or get something from your backpack she'll stare at your butt and then come behind you n pretend she's fuckin' you, and then she'll let out the cutest laughs and giggles when you glare at her and rolled your eyes (secretly you looovvveee ittt) but you smiled it off as well. Also if you have backpockets she'll put her hands in there to keep them warm..annddd whenever she leans to kiss you she grabs your back gently and kisses you. ♡

Abby w big bust reader

O m g I personally think she's a boob girl bc her boobs small and she just wants loves how boobs feel in general and she's like always squishing them with her hands when you guys have to share a bedroom when on patrol and lev is in the other room and kinda hearing yalls conversations and he's like " 😰 ",

Also she uses your breasts as stress relievers like a stress ball and she just like jiggles them and squeezed them gently every second, causing you to giggle as she kissed your cheeks and she's just looking at you like you're a literally goddess as you let out your cute lil giggles.

Headcanons

Abby fell inlove with you as soon as she saw your chubby body and cute face, rescuing her and lev from wlf/scars/anyone who's hunting them.

When you bought her to your hideout where your family and friends lives and you had to clean her bloody noise and stuff she jus admired your face as you were close up and then you smiled awkwardly and asked "there's something on my face?" And Abby shook her head slightly and shook her head 'no' as she said so and she was blushing🤭. (You didn't notice bc of her injuries on her face) She then asked you her name and then you guys became partners about 8months later because Abby was literally questioning her sexuality else it would have been 2 months 😪.

She loves your stomach sm she lays her head down on it as she reads the books she got from you.

Also she loves your chubby cheeks sm (if you have) she'll literally pinch them and nibble on them lightly as she and you giggled.

Lev is literally like your child now, lev loves you sm and I think he'll be very comfortable around you to tell you any of his problems, also he loves when he hugs you bc your like so soft and gentle and he just..melts into your touch. (I love him sm 🥺)

Also abby is really overprotective over you, if a man was staring at you with any hint of lust she's ready to square up with him (because most men never saw your body type or anyone with it due to the virus and most women are skinny/slightly musclar and you're just so gorgeous and curvy.)

Abby loves you so so much, you think you're too heavy? She picks you up quite easily on patrols causing you to gasp as she laughed and she's like "see baby? You're not heavy🙄" and you squirmed a bit and blushed as you asked her to put you down, thinking you'll break her, but she handles you just fine, and she'll like "ok babe😪", she then puts you down as she pulls you by the waist and kisses you and then Lev walks in and says "uhmm..you guys ready to go..?😐" and you both look at him and abby hands left your waist as you she held your hand and then you guys walked up, meeting lev and abby ruffles his hair and you giggled softly as Lev looks at abby like this " >:(" and then he smiles as you guys laughed and talked about what yall gonna have for dinner. (strawberries and lobster) <3

Hi this was my first time writing on Tumblr or in general so idk what the fuck is going on so pls forgive me.😭

[bl00dysaint]

WHIPLASH miya twins

street racing miya twins x reader

chapter three; phone number

16+ minors dni!

HEARING ATSUMU CALL YOU DARLIN' made your blood rush to your cheeks. Make no mistake, you've been called hun and other nicknames by a lot of people. But it was the way he said 'thanks Darlin' in a scratchy rural accent with a confident grin that gave you butterflies in your tummy.

"Welcome to the show, rookie," you said with a grin on your face, placing your hands on your hip. "Can you tell me your name?" You inquired as you shifted your weight onto your right leg and tapped your foot on the concrete.

"Atsumu. Miya Atsumu "He swirled the luggage in his right hand and held it there while leaning against his car, staring at you with a gaze you couldn't quite place. "Nice to meet you, Atsumu," you replied, gulping your spit and nodding.

"Darlin, what's your name?" He inquired, his words slurred as he scrutinized every inch of your luscious figure and the garments that hardly covered anything. "Y/n L/n," you said as you extended your hand for him to shake. He looked down at your hand and placed it on top of yours before dragging him into your chest with his hand.

He wrapped his arm around your waist and pressed your body against his before murmuring, "Nice to meet you y/n, let's meet sometime." He murmured, and you felt ticklish as the heat of his breath reached your ears.

You hummed in reply to his response, too flustered to say anything else. "For sure," you replied quietly as he removed his arm from around your waist, allowing you to catch your breath and process what had just happened. "Bye," you said as you turned back and walked away, waving your hand.

You turned to find Kuroo speaking with Kenma, who had his black hair in a sloppy bun with bleached tips, leaving strands of his hair in front. you can tell Kuroo wasn't in the best mood. but you decided to go check up on him like a good friend would do.

"yo you good" you walked up to the two guys who were inspecting the tire of kuroo's car which had seemed to gotten busted during the race. "mhm that new kid fucked up my tire" he snarled throwing the tool in his hand into the concrete ground.

"Must had gotten Lynx's new tire mod's, must got connections shit is hard to get" you crossed your arm looking back at Atsumu's tires and back to Kuroo's damaged tires. "you think you could help us get new tire's with mod better than his and fix it up a bit?" he sighed looking up at you with hope knowing you were the best with getting exclusive and illegal modification's for car parts. another way you made yourself useful in this business.

"of course, i'll see what i can do for you meeting up with my supplier later this week anyway" you shrugged taking your phone out your backpocket to glance at the time and your notifications.

"Thanks i appreciate it" he smiled softly cheering up a bit opening up his arms waiting for a hug from you as you rolled your eyes bending down to hug him rubbing his back a little before pulling away from his hug.

"no need to say your thanks you know i got you like always" "oh kenma i'll call you later about our design" you walked over to him mentioning it as he nodded in understanding before turning around and hugging you for a quick second before walking to his crew to help them out.

you chuckled at him being cute, you had helped kenma out with his design for a new car and was able to get your supplier to get an import of his car and you were planning to personally add your own modifications per his request just for him. it meant a lot to him plus you were looking to do him a favor for once.

"Y/n!" You heard Mia call you as you turn around seeing her hanging around bokuto and his crew waving as you let out a sigh walking towards her "what's up" you asked as she pulled away from Bokuto's hug and took your hand pulling you away.

"What's the tea with the new guy" she excitedly asked leaning on the fence. "Nothing really he was just flirty" you sighed putting your hands in your back pockets "nothing really cmon I know that's bull something else must had happened!" She rolled her eyes at your vauge response.

You felt paper in your back pocket before you pulled it out and it happened to be a phone number that was atsumu's. You raise your eyebrows unaware he had put it in your pocket. Not responding to her you show her the paper making her gasp. "I knew something else happened! You should call him later" she clasped her hands smiling.

"No way I'm calling him especially later" you scoffed putting the paper back in your pocket crossing your arms. "Why not? It's your chance to hook up with a new hot guy" she joked knowing you haven't gotten with a dude yet.

"I'll see about that"

[cal-writes]

litte bit more of that supernatural au for detco i have a lot for it but id need a lot more to actually get it finished and since i dont know when ill get around to that, have some more wip

Kazuha’s home was the epitome of a witch’s refuge, at least in Heiji’s opinion. She lived in a recent addition to her parent’s house, on the property but separate from the main house to grant her some privacy but still give her access to her mother’s stash of spell materials. The property was in a residential area so the traffic noise was minimal.

It was a small living space with one bedroom, kitchen and living room combined with a side room that kept Kazuha’s tomes and personal spell components, all surrounded by a porch space around it. Around her windows were protection spells drawn in colorful paints, bundles of dried herbs and flowers hung the ceiling in the living room and kitchen space giving everything the faint scent of a pleasant potpourri.

It was quaint and Heiji loved it. Even if he didn’t love the circumstances that had brought him to staying here. Shinichi had said he could have the apartment but Heiji hadn’t felt like staying there with all their shared things. 

He took off his shoes and coat by the door, noting that Kazuha’s were missing. He was alone. It only took a few steps to reach the couch and he pulled out his tarot deck from the backpocket of his jeans before he sat down. The cards were still warm from sitting in his pocket all day. He focused on the feel of them in his hands and shuffled through them idly. The fine cardstock was worn soft from years of use, having been gifted to him by his mother ages ago. Fuck, he missed her every day. 

“What do you got for me?” Heiji said quietly into the empty room, taking a card from the top of the deck. 

The Tower.

He scowled at the card. “Really?” Heiji asked, exasperated and shuffled that card back into the deck, before leaving it on the couchtable. With a sigh he sank into the cushions. He should just stay inside the rest of the day. He put his foot up on the edge of the table and debated to turn on the TV when his phone rang. Heiji shot a suspicious glare at his tarot cards before glancing at the phone screen. His father. Great. 

He inhaled, feeling the air fill his chest and letting it out slowly through his nose before he accepted the call. At the same time, a key turned in the front door.

“Hi dad.” Heiji said, glancing over to the entrance, watching Kazuha poke her head inside.

“I brought food!” Kazuha said, kicking the door closed with her foot. Steam misted plastic bags where swinging on her fingers. 

“Was that Kazuha?” His father said in place of a greeting and Heiji rolled his eyes to the ceiling. He waved his phone as Kazuha extracted herself from her jacket and shoes and she mimed zipping her mouth shut, walking past him to unload the take out containers onto her kitchen counter. 

“Yep.” Heiji said. “I’m staying with her for a bit.” 

“Ah, I see. That’s good.” His fathers tone carried an undertone that grated on him. 

“Don’t get your hopes up,” He said, reaching out to take the beer Kazuha was handing him as she set up dinner on the couch table, moving his deck to the corner gingerly. “I’m not going to marry her and have little seer babies.” 

His father scoffed. “You always put words in my mouth.” 

“Uh huh.” Heiji replied and Kazuha patted him on his shoulder when she passed, scuttering around her living space. 

“It’s good you and that Kudou boy broke up. I always knew he was trouble. Banshee’s invite tragedy.” His father told him and Heiji pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Can we table this discussion until it’s been a bit more than a week since I got dumped?” He asked. His father clicked his tongue and said nothing. “What did you call me about?” Heiji felt compelled to ask when the silence stretched for too long. 

“Your mother’s birthday is coming up.” His father said, non-commitally and Heiji glanced at his watch to where the day of the month was displayed. Between everything going on he had almost forgotten. He felt an intense rush of guilt overcome him, making him squirm in his seat. 

“What would you like to eat? I can come over and cook something.” Heiji offered and Kazuha finally settled down next to him, letting out a huff. The cushions dipped, making their shoulders bump together. 

“Whatever you want. I don’t care what.” His father said gruffly and restrained himself from rolling his eyes once more. 

“Okay, I’ll think of something. I gotta go now unless there is something else?” 

“No. Talk to you soon.” 

“You too, dad.” He said and hung up, groaning. Kazuha bumped him with her elbow and took the phone out his hands to replace it with a plastic container full of food. “Thank you.” Heiji muttered. The plastic creaked as he peeled the lid back, inhaling the rich scent that waved toward him. “Maybe we should just get married so he’ll get off my back.” 

Kazuha slurped a mouthful of noodles, getting sauce all over her lips. She chewed quickly. “If that was your proposal, I’m saying no.” She told him around her half chewed noodles, one hand in front of her mouth. 

Heiji sighed in mock disappointment and grabbed the chopsticks Kazuha had laid out for him on the table. It was an old joke between them. Both of their parents, so deeply rooted in tradition, had introduced them as children in the hopes of encouraging them to become a couple. A powerful and talented witch from a prestigious family of witches and a fantastic medium with a seer mother were practically guaranteed to have seer children. The power to see the future and to alter the present state. Alas, as if to disappoint their parents specifically, they had become best friends instead.

It had been a constant source of conflict in their late teens when their parents had to reckon with the fact that they weren’t going to combine their family lines in a lowkey problematic genetics matchup. It had been rich coming from his own father, who hadn’t been born with any supernatural powers and who his mother had married for love, to insist his son care about lineage. Perhaps that had precisely been the reason that Heizo had been so adamant about it. Heiji had always gotten the impression that his father blamed himself for his son being ‘only’ a medium. 

Heiji didn’t see the problem. He respected his later mother and her powers greatly but to him being a seer had seemed terribly lonely. Heiji didn’t even know how old his mother had been, given that she had been functionally immortal. Unless, well-

He focused on shoving noodles into his face and drinking beer while Kazuha turned on the TV for some background noise. 

“How did it go with Hakuba today?” She asked casually after a while, her tone carefully cheerful. 

Heiji shrugged. “He’s still an asshole but it went fine.” 

“I thought so, since you didn’t call.” She said. “I was getting ready for a full exorcism and everything.” 

“Nah.” Heiji said. “They went on peacefully.” It had almost surprised him too. Usually his cases turned south fast and nine times out of ten required the help of a witch. Then again, Shinichi notoriously had the worst luck in the world so maybe it was his fault. Heiji stabbed at his noodles. Not gonna think about him. He felt Kazuha’s eyes on his and he ducked his head. 

He was thinking about him. Fuck. With a huff he put his food on the table and dragged a hand over his face. He glanced at his phone. No new messages. He couldn’t tell whether to be disappointed or relieved.

“Maybe he’ll come around?” Kazuha said gently. She put her own food on the table so she could put her arm around his shoulders and pull him closer. 

Heiji huffed. “Yeah, right.” He scoffed and let his head drop onto her shoulder. “I don’t even really know what his problem is.” 

“Didn’t he say?” 

“‘Not everything is about you’.” Heiji said in his worst Tokyo accent. “‘It’s better this way’. Asshole.” 

Kazuha tightened her embrace and she shook her head. “Pah, honestly. That guy.” She said, quietly fuming and Heiji was glad that she bit back whatever insults she was thinking of. Heiji felt his own anger evaporate too quickly, leaving him just sad and hollow. He wanted to talk to his mom, get her advice. She always knew what to say. But that wasn’t an option anymore, even for him. Couldn’t talk to a ghost that wasn’t there. He pulled away from Kazuha’s embrace and she settled her hand on his back as he reached over to take his cards. He shuffled them idly, spinning stacks of them around, letting them speak to him. Kazuha’s hand was a warm presence, heat bleeding through his clothes to his skin. She shoved their food aside so he had space to draw his cards face down. One, two, three. 

The rest of the deck felt heavy in his hands as he leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. The symmetrical pattern drawn onto the back of the cards seemed to stare at him. Kazuhe leaned forward too and turned his head to look at him. “They been mean?” She asked. 

Heiji huffed. “Yeah.” He said and turned the first card. 

Past. Two of Cups, reversed. Break up, clash and disconnect. No shit. 

Heiji clicked his tongue. “Come on.” He muttered under his breath and Kazuha blew out her breath. 

He felt her shrug helplessly against him. “Well, they’re not wrong.” 

“I know.” He said miserably and turned the next card.

Present. The Tower, again, upright. Destruction, disaster, chaos. 

He inhaled sharply, fingers freezing as he finished revealing it. His heart rate increased ever so slightly. “Again?” He asked quietly and frowned. Next to him Kazuha pressed closer. 

“It came up before?” Kazuha asked, brow furrowed with worry. 

“Just earlier today.” Heiji said. He swallowed and reached over to the last card. He felt his palms perspire and he hesitated before flipping it. 

Future. Death, upright. Change, ending, rebirth. 

“Yikes.” Kazuha said, wincing at her own words and giving him an apologetic glance but Heiji could only agree. 

“Fucking great.” He muttered as he collected the cards, shuffling them back into the deck. He wanted to believe the cards were just being misceviously malicious but this was as clear a warning as he had ever gotten. Something bad was on the horizon. Given how terrible his week was going already, Heiji dreaded what was about to come. 

Kazuha stood. “We’re gonna need something stronger than beer.” She declared. 

[toaster-hair]

“There’s a human in the neighborhood!” chapter 3 part 2

this part puts the “sweat” in “the sweat chapter” teehee 

You finally made it to the train station, paying $20 bucks for your train ticket. As you sat down in your seat, you checked your phone. There was a new notification! Cool! It was from an unknown number. Not cool. You tapped the notification and read the text. 

Hello Neighbor. Sally Gave Me Your Number. Im Still Trying To Figure Out This Whole Texting Thing.

You chuckled, you could instantly tell who it was. But it was probably best to ask anyways. His texting style felt like one of an older person. 

wally? is that you? ur doing fine lol ( ´ ▽ ` )

Yes, Its Wally. How Are You Doing. I Saw You Run Out Of Howdys Place. What Happened. 

oh i was just late for my new job so i had to run to the train station. thats all.    (￣▽￣*)ゞ

Oh. Okay, I Thought Something Bad Happened. Tell Me About Your Job When You Get Home.

You sent a thumbs up emoji. You put your phone back into your backpocket. You watched the train stop and you got up. You searched up the place on your phone for directions and made your way to the city. You were so used to your colorful puppet world, that the regular world seemed off to you. Bleak and uncolorful. Harsh and judgemental. You just hoped the day would be over soon.

Finally, you stepped into your new job. It was a cute little boba shop! FishEgg Boba. You were introduced to your new coworkers, shown around the place, and started work.

Dinah was a happy-go-lucky girl with HUGE crazy hair. You couldn’t tell if it was a wig or not, you just knew she used a shit-ton of hairspray. Definitely a jersey chick. She worked at the cash register and was very chatty with customers. You guessed she was like, 5’6 or something.

Bayani was a shy older chubby woman, when you met her she barely spoke. She lit up when she started talking about her kids. One was in high school and the other was in middle school. She was working with the drinks themselves. You figured she was like, 6’5 or something given the fact she was a bit taller than you.

Casper was an odd one. He had these piercing eyes and an unchanging smile. He kind of just. Stared you down. He was friendly, of course, but he just felt a bit. Off. He definitely fit the “creepy janitor” trope. He was definitely the shortest of you all, only really clocking in at about 5’0. 

Your job was mostly just to help speed things up. Whether by making drinks with Bayani, or wiping the counter and sweeping the floor with Casper, or just covering for Dinah while she was taking a break. They really had you working your ass off.

“Oh, Y/N! Could you stir the boba for me?” Bayani asked you. Of course you ran over to stir the pot. “Y/N, could you help me get this stain out?” Casper asked you. Of course you tried to get the stain out of the floor as best you could. “Y/N, sweetie! I gotta go use the bathroom, could you watch the register while I’m in the back?” Dinah asked you. Of course you took customers orders until she got back. All this running around got you sweating! The sweat soaked into your clothes, making you smell nasty. You had to constantly wipe the sweat off your forehead with your arm.

Around the end of the day, you made a drink for yourself. You sipped it and scrolled on your phone. You then remembered Wally’s request. You opened your messages app and started typing.

It was gr8!! ヽ(>∀ <☆)ノ i  got   a  long with my new coworkers nicely!!!

You closed the app only to have to open it immediately after.

Thats Good. Im Glad.

ur quite the fast replyer lol 

I Was Waiting All Day To Hear From You.

Oh wow. That made you blush a little. Dinah looked over your shoulders. “Wow, Y/N, whose that?” she asked “Are they your pardner?” she teased. 

“Huh?! Oh, no no, he’s just my neighbor…” you stammered. The sweat on your forehead dripped down your face. 

“Woah, Y/N. Are you okay? Your face is all red and sweaty.” Bayani looked over concerned. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine.” You reassured her “Just feel a bit worked out is all. Uh, we’re closing soon, right?” 

“Yep!” Dinah looked at her watch “Me and Casper will close the shop, you guys can go home.” you and Bayani thanked her as you headed out the door. Surprisingly, you both headed in the same direction! This made Bayani start up a conversation. “So, Y/N, do you live around here? Do you have any kids? Probably not, you’re pretty young. Do you have any pets?” she questioned.

“Oh, I live a couple of blocks away. I take the train over to my neighborhood. No kids, but one cat.” You answered her, playing around with your fingers. You smelt something odd, but it left your mind as soon as it entered.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look like you’re going to pass out.” Gosh, she was so concerned. Did you… did you really look that bad? You hadn’t looked in the mirror since this morning. You certainly could feel your sweat soak your clothes, but that’s whatever.

“I”m fine, I swear. It’s just hot out is all.” You deflected her a bit. You did have a fever semi-recently, but you recovered from that, right? At some point you waved goodbye to her as you made your way over to the train station. You waited a bit, got on the train, and stared out the window as you made your way home. The sun was really beating down on you. Probably wasn’t a good idea to own so many sweaters, and even less of a good idea to wear one today. Your sweat made your sweater stick to your skin. The sun started to set when you got back to the neighborhood. The second you stepped back into town, Wally was there to greet you.

“Hello neighbor, how are- oh uh. Are you okay?” he asked before he could ask. Why was everyone saying that today?! “Yeah I’m just really sweaty is all.. Pretty hot out today haha.” you brushed off his concerns.

You both just stared at each other for a moment. Before you could fill the awkward silence, he did it for you, asking “What’s sweat?” before you could answer, he interjects again! Saying, “Wait, it’s not something gross like poop, is it?” the distress in his voice was clear.

You shook your hands “No, no! I mean, it can be gross, but not as gross as poop!” you tried your best to convince him “Basically when we- and I mean we as in humans, not we as in the both of us- get super hot, our bodies produce sweat to cool us down. It can make us smell bad sometimes, so we take showers! Speaking of showers, I should go take one right now. Oh, and feed my cat and stuff. I should probably do that first.”

He looked at you with those big pretty eyes of his with a glint of sadness. “Okay. Well, let’s talk more in the morning then, okay? Or over the phone. Either is fine.” you nodded “Yeah, we’ll talk later. Goodnight!” You walked to your house, Wally watching you as you slammed the door behind you. You instantly fell down to the floor once you entered the house. Your kitty cat running to you, meowing at you frantically. “Yeah, kitty, I know. Just let me lay down for a couple of minutes.”

(I FINALLY UPDATED BITCHES HOPE YOU LIKE BEING SWEATYY. Srry this took so long im more hyperfixated on atsv at the moment (esp hobie cuz hes a total hottie!!) i might write some fic for that but i didnt wanna just abandon this fic lol. Might draw what i picture Y/N and their coworkers to look like. Also, if it wasnt clear, y/ns coworkers were meant to be similar to poppy, julie, and wally!)

[imminent-danger-came]

What kind of harbinger of chaos do you think MK is?

Chaos as in destruction, disorder, pain and mayhem?

Or Chaos as in Nothing? The end of all things.

Maybe one after the other

(also random thought I dunno what to do with and is probably just coincidence, but maybe you want to put it in your backpocket: small broken monkey statue with half it‘s face missing, Azure disintegrating with half his face missing)

Based off of the lines:

Curse MK: "We’re just like Wukong. A fraud! A trickster! Destructive! Why would our legacy be any different? Actually, no no- the chaos and destruction we’ll bring upon the world will make Wukong’s past look like nothing." (4x07 Pitiful Creatures)

and

Peng: "Oh, I don't know! A little bit of chaos might be good for the world!" (4x12 The Plan Man)

and

Hooded Figure: "There will of course be an inquiry into how the scroll of memory was stolen in the first place, and what is to be done now that the Jade Emperor has been dethroned. The universe is perilously close to tipping into chaos. If it comes to light that any of this party were involved, you can believe the consequences will be dire—but only a fraction of the price compared to what shall come to pass should you succeed." (4x14 Better Than We Found It)

My guess is the full blown chaos route. Destruction and disorder and mayhem baby! Chaos for chaos' sake! There's no pain or stakes if you just don't care, do whatever! Let whatever happen! Do whatever you want! Embrace it! ("Wukong does whatever he wants!" ; "Wukong was on a path of self-destruction, we all were." ; "No, this isn't what I wanted!")

And you might be onto something anon! The destruction of one eye/half of the face does tend to show up from time to time:

Bonus one-eye MK shot that frightens me every time I look at it:

[stardustshelb]

"Strawberry" Part Five

TW: Language

Word count: 7,999

Chapter Thirteen

I finished applying my lipstick in the bathroom mirror when I heard my phone vibrate on the counter. My heart fluttered when I thought it’d be Josh telling me they were on their way, but instead it was Kenneth’s name on the screen. My heart sank.

Kenneth: “Are you alive? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

Me: “All good here! How is everything with you?”

Kenneth: “Good. I’m ready for you to come home.” I hesitated on what to reply back to his message. I was so not ready to come home, but I knew my return was inevitable. 

Me: “Only two more days.” I replied with a sad face emoji. Of course, I was sad because I only had two days left of freedom, fun, and Joshua. I wasn’t ready to return back to the same loneliness I feel in Oklahoma. Just then, I got a notification of a text from Plagiarism.

Plagiarism: “We are heading your way now.” I smiled and held the message down to “love” it before taking one final look in the mirror. I was so nervous to meet his friends, well–brothers–but I was even more nervous about how the girls were going to behave tonight. I turned the bathroom light off, stuck my phone in my jean backpocket, and made my way into the living room where the girls were all hanging out. Despite the fact that we were literally staying home for the evening, that didn’t stop Abby from wearing a multi-color sequin mini dress that was so tight I wondered how she was able to sit down, let alone breathe. I opted for a more comfortable approach in my ripped jeans and cropped t-shirt. Brooke was in a casual maxi dress; Maddie was in jean shorts and a Nashville t-shirt that she must have picked up on this trip. Riley was back in her “BRIDE” white velour tracksuit from her travel day. When she put it on, she exclaimed, “Even though we’re staying in, it’s still my bachelorette party. I have to dress the part!” We definitely didn’t look like we were all dressed for the same occasion. 

“What time will the pizzas be here?” Madie asked.

“In about an hour,” Abby replied. Of course she volunteered to buy all of the pizzas and refused to accept Venmo from us. She had an unlimited budget and I wasn’t going to argue because it kept me from spending the last of my money. I guess she wanted to be Saint Domino’s for the night.

I did one last walk through the Airbnb to make sure everything was perfect for the boys’ arrival. There wasn’t going to be enough room at the dining room table for all of us, so we took the pillows and blankets from our bedrooms to make the living room floor more comfortable as a hangout spot. The deck of cards for our drinking games and coasters for our glasses were neatly displayed on top of the living room table. I still couldn’t fight the anxious feeling building inside of me. My mind was racing with hypothetical, worst case scenarios. I definitely was going to need to take a shot or something as soon as the boys got here with the booze. I just needed to relax.

“Welcome, come in!” I said nervously as I opened the door for our secretly famous guests. Once I saw Josh’s smile, a calmness washed over me. The effect he has on me can only be credited to magic. He walked past me and gently rubbed his hand on my shoulder as a subtle greeting. Even with just his light touch, electricity surged through my veins. I got a whiff of his cologne and almost floated through the air like you see in the cartoons. In his arms were brown paper sacks no doubt full of bottles of the poison he picked for tonight. Behind him followed the three best looking guys I have ever seen. Seriously, why was every member in this band so damn good looking? Were they even real? I tried not to appear star-struck as Jake, Danny, and Sam entered the Airbnb–each of them also held brown paper sacks. It looked like there was enough alcohol between them to host a big frat party. 

Josh pulled my arm close to him and said, “Guys, this is Strawberry.” I immediately felt my face get hot. It just hit me that we’d been playing the no-name-game and now I was going to have to continue it with an audience of people who weren’t in on the joke.

“Who the hell is Strawberry?” I heard Abby’s voice ask. Shit.

“It’s a nickname,” I said, trying to think of what to say.

“Well, obviously because your name is—” Abby was saying.

“I call her Strawberry,” Josh interrupted. 

“Nice to meet you, Strawberry. I’m Sam,” he said as he pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and felt him squeeze me tight. I liked him.

“I’m Danny,” he said, giving a nervous wave to the group accompanied by a soft smile. 

“Jake,” he said with no smile. I remembered his serious disposition when he was the assistant on the plane. I got the vibe that he didn’t want to be here, but maybe he was just hard to read.

I took a turn introducing all of the girls one-by-one to the guys. Oddly enough, even when I said each of their names, Josh never looked at anyone but me. I tried to act like I didn’t notice his stare, but I could feel my knees getting weaker by the second. 

“I want to take a shot with the bride!” Sammy yelled as he made his way to the kitchen with his arms full of bags. I grabbed Riley’s hand and pulled her along behind him. The guys followed suit and started unpacking their purchases. Bottles of beer, wine, and liquor started to plague the countertop space. 

“We brought a little of everything because we weren’t sure what you guys would like,” Danny said with an adorable smile.

“I like it all,” Abby said as she scooted closer to him. I watched Danny’s nervous eyes flash to the counter as he slowly shifted his body away from hers. Yep, I liked him too.

“And for a little taste of home,” Josh said as he started to pull out a bottle with a label that I knew all too well. My eyes got wide as I recognized the bottle of bourbon in his hands. Riley immediately turned her neck to look at me; her shocked expression matched mine.

“Uh, not big bourbon fans?” Josh asked nervously when he noticed our reactions.

“How did you find Oklahoma bourbon in Tennessee?” I asked.

“This is the reason why we were in Oklahoma,” Josh said, tilting the bottle in the air.

“I’m not following,” I said.

“The business meeting in OKC was with this brand. We are partnering with them,” Jake interrupted.

“What do you guys do?” Maddie asked. I couldn’t focus on the elaborate lies that the boys were now feeding the girls about their made-up professions because I could only focus on the bottle of bourbon in Josh’s hands. The same brand of bourbon that sits on my shelves back home. The same brand of bourbon that Kenneth drinks. The same brand of bourbon that pays my bills. The same brand of bourbon that shares what is supposed to be my future last name. The same brand of bourbon that Kenneth’s family business makes. What the actual fuck was going on?

“Can I see you for a  minute?” I heard as I felt Riley squeeze on my arm which pulled me from my thoughts. I followed her out of the kitchen and into the empty dining room.

“Does he know that’s Kenneth’s bourbon?” Riley asked in a whisper.

“Of course not!” I said in almost a yell. I couldn’t whisper even if I had wanted to. I couldn’t believe what was happening.

“How? Why? What?” Riley asked, throwing her hands up frantically.

“I can’t tell him he’s about to do business with my–!” I hissed.

“Is everything ok?” I heard Josh’s voice suddenly ring through my ears.

“Yes,” I heard Riley say as she turned me around to face him. “We just weren’t sure how our local brand of bourbon would make its way to you,” she added.

“We wanted to partner with a US-based distillery and this is our favorite brand of bourbon. We tried it once on tour and it changed our lives. We are in the works of collaborating with the company to become ambassadors for their brand,” he said.

“So this means you’ll be in Oklahoma again?” I asked.

“Yes, it means we’ll make a couple more trips,” he said with a smirk. I felt Riley squeeze my arm again. 

“Well, I don’t know about Strawberry here, but I am not a bourbon fan. I’m going to find Sam who owes me that shot,” Riley said as she made her way out of the room to leave us alone. She turned around to look at me over Josh’s shoulder to mouth “Oh my God” before exiting the room. 

“When will you be back in Oklahoma?” I asked. Josh pulled out his phone to check his calendar. I studied his face as his eyes moved through the many dates on his app. No doubt that he was always busy. 

“We are set to come back at the end of next month,” he said, double-checking his dates. 

“Were you going to tell me?” I said.

“I wasn’t sure,” Josh admitted. My heart sank.

“You were going to fly back to Oklahoma City, be less than two hours from me, and keep that a secret?” I asked, trying to mask the hurt in my voice.

“I don’t want to mess up anything in your personal life. It’s different being here,” he said.

“So you planned to cut ties with me the second I flew home,” I said. 

“That’s not fair,” Josh said. Before I could respond, I jumped at the sound of glass shattering from the kitchen. 

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” Maddie yelled. I pushed my way past Josh and headed into the kitchen to find a busted bottle of what smelled like tequila all over the kitchen floor. Pieces of glass and liquid were everywhere. 

“Nobody move!” I commanded as I made my way to the storage closet in the hallway to grab towels and a broom. The last thing I wanted was to make an ER trip because someone had cut their foot open. When I returned back to the scene of the accident, Josh was kneeling on the ground and had already started picking up the large pieces of glass.

“Good thing we brought another bottle of tequila,” Sam said, lightening the mood.

“I’m so sorry,” Maddie said again.

“It’s really ok,” Sam said as he stuck a lime wedge in his mouth to give her a fruit-filled smile. I liked how he was able to dust things off as no big deal. I wished I could be more like that.

“Fuck,” I heard Josh say. I looked down to see he had accidentally cut the palm of his hand while collecting the glass.

“Let me clean this up,” Riley said as she grabbed the towels and broom from me. “There’s a first aid kit under the sink in the guest bathroom. Go make sure Josh is ok,” she said.

“I’m a nurse!” Brooke chimed in. “I can doctor him up,” she said.

“Just rub some tequila on it. You’ll be fine,” Jake said with a laugh. It was the first time I had seen him smile. Like his brother, he had a radiant smile. 

“I’m fine,” Josh added as he stood up and made his way to the sink. I watched him wash the blood from his palm and it made me feel nauseated. Even though I was a teacher who had witnessed many nosebleeds in my classroom, dealing with blood was not in my wheelhouse. I left the room to grab the first aid kit for Brooke to mend Josh’s hand. Or, maybe I left the room to get away from the sight of blood. Both were true in this case. 

“Party foul!” Abby yelled from the living room. I rolled my eyes as I walked past her and made my way into the bathroom. I got on my knees and opened the cabinet under the sink to look for the kit that Riley claimed was there. I saw fresh linen towels, bathroom cleaning supplies, but no first aid kit. I kept looking when I jumped at the sound of his voice.

“I really am fine,” he said. I stopped my search and looked up to see him standing in the doorway. He had a wad of paper towels clenched in a tight fist. 

“Riley said it was in here,” I said, turning my attention back to the cabinet. Josh stepped more into the bathroom and shut the door, closing the two of us inside. I tried to ignore his presence and focus on the task of finding the kit. Alas, I spotted a small white container with a red cross on the lid.

“Voila!” I said holding it up. I opened the plastic box to sift through gauze, bandages, and medical tape. “Let me get Brooke,” I said as I started to stand up.

“I don’t need a nurse to put on a bandaid,” he said laughing.

“Well, I don’t do blood, so she’s your only hope,” I said, shoving the box to him.

“I feel like you’re lying just because you don’t want to talk to me,” he said, blocking the doorway.

“Well, I don’t particularly feel like talking to you at the moment, but no, I will truly get sick if I see your blood,” I said. He kept the paper towel clenched in his fist and put his wounded hand behind his back away from my line of vision. 

“I don’t understand why you’re mad at me,” he said. I honestly didn’t understand either but I couldn’t let him know that. He had made it clear to me already that this was nothing serious. I was the one floundering about in a dream world that was only going to end in heartbreak for me. I understood that; I just didn’t want to accept it.

“I’m not mad. I guess I was just hurt that you didn’t want to see me again,” I said, shifting my feet.

“Oh, believe me. I do want to see you, but I don’t want to cause a disturbance in your personal life. You have a fiancé, a job, a family, really just a whole other life in Oklahoma. I don’t fit in that puzzle,” he said. I wished he wanted to. I’d create a whole new puzzle to make his piece fit with mine.

“You’re right,” I said with a sigh. 

“Let’s just enjoy the time we have left, ok?” He said as he closed the space between us. I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eyes because I didn’t want my sadness to show. 

“I better get back out there,” I said.

“What’s the rush?” He asked, moving closer to me so that our bodies were mere centimeters apart. His enticing scent consumed me. 

“I’m not hooking up with you in the bathroom while your hand is bleeding,” I said with a laugh.

“Can you at least kiss me in the bathroom while my hand is bleeding?” He asked. I finally met his eyes. He was smiling and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. But I wasn’t sure what I wanted from him now. I felt the need to protect my feelings.

“We’ll see,” I said as I moved around him, ignoring his advances. I put my hand on the doorknob when I felt his arm wrap around my waist.

“Come here,” he said, pulling me to him. I tried to stand firm but my subconscious craved his touch. As if I had no control over my body, I allowed him to hold me close. I took a deep breath and felt myself melt into him. This intimacy, this closeness, this connection… How could he not feel it too?

“I have to pee!” Abby’s voice rang from the other side of the bathroom door. I let go of Josh and looked up into his eyes. They appeared darker than normal. Like he felt conflicted by something but wouldn’t dare to admit. 

“Coming!” I said, pulling myself away from his hold. At that moment, it was as if I pulled a part of him away with me. I watched his adam's apple move as he swallowed his unspoken sadness.

Chapter Fourteen

“Never have I ever been arrested,” Danny said with a smirk. We all looked around the circle to see Sam was the only one to put a finger down. 

“Oh shit!” Riley yelled out. “Take a drink!” Sam flipped Danny off as he took a sip from his bottle of tequila. I was enjoying my second glass of wine while sitting between my best friend and my lover. We had polished off the pizza that Abby ordered and now we were playing our first round of drinking games. Life was good on the living room floor. 

“Never have I ever had a sibling,” Riley voiced when it was her turn. 

“Nice,” I said as we touched our glasses like we were making a toast. Being only children was something we had in common and was one of the reasons we got along so well. We were each other’s chosen sisters. Everyone else in the room put a finger down. I had the most fingers still up which was only an embarrassing indicator that everyone else had lived more fulfilling lives than me. It was now my turn and I was trying to think of something that would wipe people out.

“Never have I ever been pulled over,” I said. Fingers went down across the room except for Danny and Maddie. “Drink up!” I said as I raised my glass to everyone else.

“Never have I ever gone to college,” Josh said with a shrug. Every girl in the room put a finger down and the guys cheered as we all had to take a drink. 

“Never have I ever been engaged,” Abby said with a tone that I could have slapped her for. It was obviously directed at Riley and me as everyone else in the room was obviously unmarried. Did she pick up on the vibes between Josh and me? What was she trying to prove? Riley and I both put a finger down and in that moment, I realized I wasn’t even wearing my ring. 

“Ok, that was targeted,” Riley said. “Helloooo? It’s my fucking bachelorette weekend!” Everyone laughed but I noticed a rigid shift in Jake’s body language when I put my finger down. He was staring at Josh with a look I couldn’t quite place, but he looked pissed. Sam had one finger left and the look on Jake’s face showed he was done playing the game.

“Never have I ever eaten tofu,” Jake said with a raise of his glass in Sam’s direction.

“Ah, man, come on!” Sam said as he put his last finger down. 

“Loserrrrrrr!” Abby drunkenly yelled out. “Chug! Chug! Chug!” She began to chant. While everyone in the room watched Sam take a shot straight from the bottle, I saw Jake get up from the circle and make his way into the kitchen. Josh gave me a wink before he jumped up to follow his brother. I wondered what discussion was about to take place; what I would have given to be a fly on the wall to have heard it. 

When they made their way back into the room to join the party, I could sense something was off with Josh. They hadn’t been gone very long, and I’m sure nobody even noticed their absence because Sam was now shuffling the cards for a new game. Josh noticed my empty wine glass and grabbed it without saying a word. He returned back to the kitchen and I hesitated on whether I should have followed him or not. But the stern look on Jake’s face was almost like a warning to stay away from Josh, so I stayed put. 

“Everyone needs six cards,” Sam stated as he started to deal out the deck of cards. Josh returned with a now full glass of wine for me and I accepted it. I tried to read his face but it was impossible. He took his seat next to me and I reached out to touch his hand, but he pulled it away before I had the opportunity. He reached out for his cards from Sam and then I did the same. 

I couldn’t focus on the rules of the game that Sam was half-ass explaining. I was too fixated on the sudden change in Josh’s mood after his talk with Jake. Something was clearly off about him and I wanted to know what was going on. 

“Did you get that?” Riley leaned over and asked me.

“Huh?” I said.

“Were you listening to the rules?” She asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. That wasn’t even close to being true. I had no idea what game we were playing because I wasn’t paying any attention.

“Ok… Then why are you still holding all six of your cards?” Riley asked with a puzzled expression. I looked around to see everyone had laid one of their cards face down in front of them. I had no idea what the point of the game was, so I just pulled one from my pile and placed it in front of me.

“Ok, one… two… flip!” Sam yelled. All at once, everyone turned their chosen card over. I followed suit even though I didn’t have a clue as to what game we were playing. 

“Strawberry, why the hell did you play two of hearts?” Danny asked while laughing.

“I–I don’t know,” I said, visibly confused

“Ok, you obviously lost. Drink!” Abby yelled. I still had no idea what the fuck I was supposed to be doing, so I just drank my wine.

Josh leaned over to whisper in my ear, “You were supposed to play your highest card that round.” Wonderful. I probably looked dumb as hell.

All of a sudden, Sam jumped up and started singing, “Two of hearts, two hearts that beat as one. Two of hearts…” into his bottle of tequila now disguised as a makeshift microphone. And like two peas in a pod, Danny jumped up to dance with him singing background vocals: “I need you, I need you.” The two of them definitely stole everyone’s attention as they performed the 80’s hit in the living room. It was nice to see both Josh and Jake smiling again. I wished Danny and Sam knew how grateful I was for them at this moment. They brought a kind of energy that I wished I could bottle up and harvest as my own.

The boys’ performance distracted everyone from the card game that I never actually learned the rules to, so I could tell the night was winding down. I was actually feeling a little tired and I just wanted to be alone with Josh. I could tell he was still a little off compared to his normal self, but I decided to wait until we were alone to talk to him about it.

I finished my glass of wine and then started cleaning up the Airbnb while everyone was hanging out in the living room. Everybody seemed to have a good buzz; I was thankful nobody got absolutely shitfaced. Nothing ruins a party quicker than someone who needs a babysitter, bodyguard, or both. I made my way into the kitchen to start throwing away empty pizza boxes and putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher. We didn’t even touch half of the alcohol that the boys brought. The bottle of the Oklahoma bourbon sat half empty on the counter. I stared at it wondering if or how I could tell Josh that they were about to do business with my fiancé, or maybe soon-to-be ex-fianc��. I knew my third glass of wine had me feeling bold when the possibility of me leaving Kenneth crossed my mind.

“Need a hand?” I heard a somewhat unfamiliar voice ask. I turned to see Jake standing in the entryway of the kitchen. 

“Sure, thank you,” I said, trying not to look too surprised to see him. I continued to load the dishwasher with dirty plates and glasses. He walked into the kitchen and stood next to me.

“Here,” he said as he handed me his empty glass. I recognized the smell of the bourbon immediately.

“Thanks,” I said as I grabbed it. I could tell he was wanting to talk to me because he wasn’t actually doing any cleaning. I held my breath until he finally had the courage to speak.

“I know you don’t know me, but I know my brother. He’s the most important person in my life. So what I’m about to say to you, I ask that you keep that in mind,” he started. I continued holding my breath because I didn’t like the sound of where this was going. “I think you two don’t need to spend the night together.”

I didn’t have any more dirty dishes left in the sink to place in the dishwasher, but I felt like I needed something to occupy myself while I tried to process Jake’s words. I started twisting all of the caps on the bottles of liquor and placing them back in the brown paper bags. He continued to speak, “It’s not a good idea for either of you, especially given your situation. I know Josh’s views on marriage, and while I don’t share those same views, I think he should respect other people’s commitments.”

“I’m not married,” I finally spoke.

“No, but you are engaged to be,” he added. “And I am not judging you at all. I don’t know you or your situation, but I do know my brother. I’m just afraid he’s going to get hurt.” I was shocked at this admission. Jake thought Josh was the one going to be hurt? He had no clue. Josh was the one keeping his guard up and setting clear boundaries with me. It was me who was practically sick over the idea of never seeing him again in a mere couple of days. 

“I really appreciate you talking to me about this. I can see how much you care about him,” I began. “Your brother has taught me more about myself in these past few days than I would have ever learned on my own. And while I dread going back home and saying goodbye to him, I am thankful for the time that we have had together. I value your opinion, but I’m not ready to cut that time short.”

“And you don’t have to,” Josh’s voice interrupted. I quickly turned around to find that he had been eavesdropping on my conversation with Jake. I wondered how much he had heard. 

“I was just relaying to Strawberry what I had already talked with you about,” Jake said while holding his arms up like he had been caught doing something illegal. 

“We are both consenting adults capable of making our own decisions,” Josh said.

“I understand that. I just wanted you both to hear where I’m coming from,” Jake added. He started collecting the unopened beer bottles from the fridge and placing them back in the empty cardboard drink carriers. I dried my hands and left the two of them alone to finish their conversation, even though it seemed like Josh didn’t want to be there. I walked back into the living room to find Abby on her phone, Maddie and Danny were deep into a conversation about music, Riley was braiding Brooke’s hair, and Sam was picking up the playing cards off the floor. 

“I think Jake packed up all of the booze, so I guess the party's over,” I said with a nervous laugh. 

“Are y’all good to drive?” Riley asked.

“Y’all,” Sam imitated her southern accent with a laugh. “Sorry,” he shyly added when he realized what he had just done.

“Yes, I am good to drive,” Danny added, giving a somewhat stern look to Sam.

“Josh is staying here, right?” Sam asked.

“Why would Josh stay here?” Abby asked. I immediately looked at Sam to communicate that he had just fucked up.

“I joke, I joke,” Sam added with a wild laugh. I glanced at Riley who shot me a confused look. I could tell she was trying to think of a way to cover for Sam’s blunder but was drawing a blank.

“Do you need us to take the trash out?” Danny asked while standing up.

“No, I think we’re good. We appreciate it though,” Maddie said. I could see she was blushing. It was easy to see why. Danny was one of the most handsome men I had ever laid eyes on. He could have been a Greek God in a past life. I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I grabbed it to read a text from Plagiarism: “I’m going to help load the car up and I’ll come back inside when everyone is gone.” 

“You guys ready?” Jake said as he entered the living room. Josh was standing behind him carrying two sacks of alcohol. I subtly waved my phone at him to indicate that I had seen his text. Now we just had to play the waiting game until the girls went to bed which hopefully would be soon. I was sick of playing games–figuratively and literally.

Chapter Fifteen

After what felt like waiting for an eternity but was probably closer to 30 minutes, I texted Josh to let him know it was time for him to come back. I sent “The coast is clear” as I waited for him by the front door. I had to chuckle thinking of his “we are two consenting adults” comment from earlier because we’ve been acting like two teeangers sneaking around every night. It was fun and thrilling in the most ridiculous way possible. Even though we had spent all evening in each other’s presence, I didn’t feel like we had any alone time. I was looking forward to spending the night together with nobody around to interfere. I locked the front door and I reached for his hand. 

“This one is wounded, remember?” Josh said while switching hands so I was now holding the unbandaged one. “I could have bled to death and you wouldn’t have lifted a finger,” he said dramatically as he held up his free hand.

“You literally refused help from a medical professional, so your blood is on your hands…Literally,” I said with a laugh. We quietly walked down the hallway until we got to my bedroom. I made sure to be the one to shut the door and lock it so we wouldn’t have any surprise guests again in the morning. 

“Are you and Jake good?” I asked as we sat on the edge of my bed.

“Yes, of course,” he said as he turned his body to face mine.

“I can tell you mean a lot to him. I couldn’t imagine having a twin. Hell, I don’t even know what it’s like to have a sibling!” I said with a shrug. Growing up as an only child wasn’t the worst thing to happen to me, but not having a sibling definitely contributed to the loneliness in which I feel now. 

“Jake knows me better than anyone, so I will always listen to his guidance. But I also needed him to realize that I am free to make my own choices,” he said as the corners of his mouth turned to smile. I got a flashback to my conversation with Riley from earlier today when we made up. I knew exactly what he meant.

“Did you guys have a good time tonight? It went better than I expected, honestly,” I said.

“Oh yeah, I think so. I mean, I was secretly wishing we would have called it a night hours ago,” he said with a smirk. “I would have rather been with you right here the whole night.” I bit my lip trying to hide my smile. I wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but our conversation from earlier still lingered in the back of my mind.

“So,” I paused. “This bourbon partnership…”

“Yes?” Josh asked, waiting for me to continue. I wanted to be honest with him but I also didn’t want to interfere with his life more than I already had. He planned never to see me again after I left, so would it even matter to him? 

“I’m very familiar with that brand,” I said while nervously smoothing my hands across the bed.

“Oh? I thought you weren’t much of a bourbon fan?” He said laughing. “You really should give it a try. It’s the best, smoothest one I’ve ever had. It’s why we’re so passionate about collaborating with them.”

“Yeah, I actually–” I began when Josh’s phone started to ring. 

“Who the hell is calling me at one a.m.?” He asked as he reached over to grab his phone off the nightstand. He checked the screen and then whispered, “Sorry, I need to take this.” He jumped up off the bed and made his way to the corner of the room. He was still in earshot, but I didn’t see who had called him. 

“What are you talking about?” Josh asked the mystery caller. I panicked watching him pace back and forth across the front of the room. I could sense something was wrong.

“What TikTok?” He questioned. TikTok? I continued to watch him pace until he stopped and rubbed his hand over his face.

“I mean, we partied with some friends tonight but nobody did anything worth getting upset over,” he said into the phone. I wished I knew what was going on. I was trying to put pieces together but it was difficult with only hearing one part of the conversation. I had the idea to do some investigating myself. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and I opened TikTok. I searched for Greta Van Fleet and scrolled until I could find anything remotely getting upset about at one in the morning. 

“It’s not a big deal,” Josh said with a sigh. “Maybe we can have her take it down.” I watched him as he rubbed the back of his neck. My heart started to race. What was he talking about? Who was he talking about?

“Yeah, it’s always all over Twitter,” Josh said with another deep sigh. I immediately closed out of my TikTok app and opened Twitter to see if I could find what he was talking about. I searched for Greta Van Fleet and my eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. There was a video of Sam and Danny singing “Two of Hearts” clearly taken in our Airbnb living room from earlier. To make matters worse, you could see me sitting between Riley and Josh in the background for a brief moment. Bewildered, I read several hundred tweets that posted the video or screenshots from it. No, no, no, no, this cannot be happening. I skimmed through tweets as I felt my blood getting cold. People had screenshotted the glimpse of Riley and me from the video and posted our picture with comments such as, “Who are these bitches?!” and “Anyone know who these girls are?” I started to feel ill as I realized my face was circulating around different forms of social media. 

I racked my brain trying to figure out who posted it because I couldn’t remember anyone being on their phone. I studied the angle and background of the video until it hit me: Abby must have recorded this and posted it. I noticed a TikTok username in the video, so I went back to my TikTok app to search for her account directly. Once I found her profile, I could see this latest video had over 10,000 views yet it hadn’t even been up for two hours. The caption read “Wild night in Nashville with Danny and Sam” and the comments were full of Greta Van Fleet fans clearly losing their shit. There was no way Abby knew who they were, right? 

I wanted to bust up into Abby’s room to kill her, but I figured that would just make things worse being charged with murder and all. I was going to demand that she delete the video, but I knew I would need Riley’s assistance because I doubted Abby would do anything I asked. I jumped up from the bed to go wake Riley up. When I started to make my way out of the room, Josh reached out and grabbed my arm.

“Hey, I gotta go,” he said into the phone. “Yeah, yeah, it will be alright,” he said again before hanging up. I stayed there in his grasp but as soon as he put his phone in his pocket, I started to move again.

“Slow down, where are you going?” Josh asked.

“I’m going to get Riley so she can kick Abby’s ass!” I practically yelled.

“Nobody needs their ass kicked,” Josh said, pulling me close to him.

“Actually, Abby could use a good one,” I said while my face was buried into his chest. “We literally talked about how nobody needed to post on social media before you guys got here.”

“Our management team is mad, but nobody in the band is. Not even Jake, surprisingly,” Josh said with a light laugh. I pulled away from him so I could study his face. 

“What does your team say?” I asked.

“Well, besides the fact that we were clearly hanging out in a living room with random girls, they are most concerned about the bottle of tequila in Sam’s hand,” he said with a shrug.

“What? You guys aren’t allowed to drink on camera or something?” I asked as my eyebrows furrowed.

“No, I believe that ship has sailed,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just we are in the works to launch that bourbon collaboration so now my team is worried about Sam holding a bottle of another brand of alcohol. I think they’re reading too much into it,” Josh said as he rubbed my forearms. Shit, I didn’t even think about that. I wasn’t sure how much detective work their fans would do analyzing the video, but I’m sure the fiancée of the bourbon company’s owner being in the video would be the icing on the cake. If the company even sees the video, I just hope it doesn’t make its way up the chain of command because Kenneth will recognize Riley and me instantly. 

“I need to go talk to Riley,” I said as I started to pull away.

“Wait,” Josh said, not letting me go. 

“Josh, Riley and I are in the background of the video. We need it to be taken down before someone identifies us,” I said. 

“I hate to tell you this, Strawberry, but I’m sure some of our fans already found out your family tree, place of employment, and blood type,” he said with a laugh. “Even if Abby deletes it, the video is online forever.” I wasn’t laughing. Instead, I felt like I was going to puke. With all of my might, I pulled away from Josh’s embrace and marched out the bedroom door to find Riley’s room.

“I’m gonna kill Abby!” I yelled as I entered her bedroom and turned on the lights.

“What the fuck?” Riley yelled as she pulled the covers over her eyes.

“Get the bail money ready because I’m going to jail tonight for kicking Abby’s ass!” I said as I made my way over to her bed with my phone in my hand. I pulled Riley’s covers off of her and shoved my phone in her face. 

“Look at this shit!” I yelled again. I watched Riley’s expression go from confused to enraged as she watched the “Two of Hearts” performance on TikTok. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Abby said through gritted teeth. 

“Josh’s management team called him about it. It’s all over TikTok, Twitter, probably more. I’ve already seen several tweets with screenshots of our faces wanting to know who these bitches are!” I exclaimed.

“Who are these bitches calling a bitch?” Riley asked as she started to get out of bed. I bit my tongue because I was too mad to laugh at her right now.

“I need you to take care of this with Abby because I will kill her,” I said.

“I can’t believe she would do this,” Riley said, making her way to leave the room.

“I can,” I said under my breath. I left Riley’s bedroom to return back to Josh who was waiting in mine. I left the bedroom door open so we could hopefully hear Riley confront Abby. 

“I promise it’s not a big deal,” Josh said while sitting on the bed. 

“It is to me,” I said as I got closer to the doorway to try to hear their conversation better. I was a little annoyed that Josh wasn’t as concerned about the video like I was, but I guess he’s used to his every move being watched and scrutinized by strangers. Surely he remembered what it was like before he was famous. Then again, from the limited research I did on the band, it seemed like this is the life he’s had ever since he was a teenager. I continued to eavesdrop even though it was hard to make out what the girls were saying. Suddenly, I heard the voices getting louder and before I knew it, Abby and Riley were in my doorway.

“What the hell is he still doing here?” Abby asked when she noticed Josh.

“Let’s start with why you posted that TikTok after we talked about not posting on social media tonight,” I responded. I would be damned if I became the one on trial.

“I didn’t think it would turn into what it did. Why didn’t anyone say these guys were–oh, I don’t know–famous?” Abby asked with a mocking tone.

“There are people online trying to figure out Riley’s and my identity right now because of this, Abby!” I exclaimed. 

“I didn’t think it would get more than my usual 100 views. I didn’t know they were famous! How is that my fault?” Abby asked, still refusing to take a sliver of responsibility. I imagined myself punching her in the face. I could feel my nails digging into my palms, so I knew I needed to relax before I did something I would regret.

“It’s your fault because you posted after we asked you not to,” Riley interjected.

“Or is this really because you don’t want people to know about what’s going on here between you two?” Abby asked while waving her finger at Josh and me. 

“Can I speak?” Josh voiced from behind me. I had almost forgotten he was there because I was consumed with my thoughts of strangling Abby. 

“Of course,” Riley said.

“I think everyone needs to take a breath for a moment. Abby, I’m sorry we kept our band a secret. We just wanted to hangout and feel like normal people tonight. It’s not your fault that your video somehow was discovered by our fans and got shared all over the internet. Riley and Strawberry, I’m sorry your picture is now on public display. Our band will post something outrageous tomorrow and it will all be forgotten within 48 hours. You should see some of the shit Sam has saved in the drafts. I promise it will blow over in a day or two,” he said so quietly I could barely hear him. I wanted to kiss him right then and there.

“I did delete the video from TikTok,” Abby said.

“Thank you,” Josh said with a sigh of relief. 

“So you’re not sorry for—” I began to say.

“Let’s all just go to bed and worry about this tomorrow,” Riley said.

“Yeah, I better get going,” Josh said as he stood up. I instantly felt my heart shatter into a million pieces.

“Are you good to walk him out and lock the front door?” Riley asked me. I was trying everything in my power not to burst into tears. 

“Yes,” I said while swallowing the lump in my throat. I watched Abby and Riley leave my bedroom. I stayed turned around with my back to Josh because I didn’t want him to see me cry. Suddenly, I felt his arms wrap around my waist and his chest was against my back. He buried his face into my neck and I lost the battle of holding back my tears. I felt the warm drops of liquid make their way down my cheeks. 

“Why are you leaving?” I asked while my bottom lip quivered. I still had my back to him but I knew that he knew I was crying. 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay the night now. Tensions are high. We don’t need Abby getting the wrong idea, and–”

“Fuck Abby!” I said as I released a sob.Yep, he definitely knew I was crying now. 

“I also need to make a couple phone calls to make sure this will all be smoothed over tomorrow–well, today, technically–it’s already after two,” Josh said while his forehead rested on my shoulder. I couldn’t believe our second to last night together was now ruined. I continued to cry as he held me. I felt his lips kiss my neck as he made his way up to my ear.

“Tomorrow night, I am all yours. I promise,” he said in a whisper. I lifted my hands to my face to wipe the tears away. I moved his arms from my waist and headed toward the exit of the bedroom. 

“Come on, I’ll walk you out,” I said, never turning around to see his face.

I laid in bed scrolling through Twitter reading the hundreds of tweets talking about Abby’s video. Even though I felt immense amounts of sadness while I laid in bed alone, I did have to admit that some tweets made me smile. The ones about Sam and Danny especially made me laugh. Some of their fans have quite a sense of humor while some sounded like they needed to talk to a mental health professional. I kept scrolling hoping that my eyelids would get heavy and I could sleep, but I was too stressed out. I got up to get into my medicine bag to take some melatonin. It was nearly three in the morning and I wanted nothing more than to sleep this entire day off. From fighting with Riley, to fighting with Abby, and now Josh changing his mind about staying over, I was so mentally drained. I closed out all of the apps on my phone, put it on DND mode, and flipped it face down on the nightstand. 

I held my pillow tight wishing it were Josh that I was holding right now. I was so tired of crying, but I felt the pillow getting soaked with my tears. I inhaled deep breaths trying to think of anything other than the fact that I would soon be losing him for good. I reminded myself that we still had one more night together, so I tried to cling to that glimmer of hope as I allowed myself to rest.

[vince-linder]

And if you die, I wanna die with you

A normal day, with a normal gig. It was nothing special, so Vince went alone, leaving Johnny at the Afterlife as a backup. But somehow today Johnny was nervous. Something felt off. But until now Vince didn't called him in for backup. Johnny nibbed on his drink, tapping on the counter of the table he was sitting at. Other patrons and Mercenaries looked at him, being annoyed by his nervous behaviour. Johnny didn't care. Shouldn't Vince be already done with the mission? Just a quick in and out, right? Than why wasn't Vince back. Johnny took a deep shaky breath. The buzz of his phone let him wince, he fumbled for his phone hasty and nearly dropped it. Vince names was showing on the display, and Johnny hesistates to look at it for a moment. He took another long breath, opening the messenge with a bad feeling in his guts. "Johnny?" "Yes?!" "I fucked up. I could need a bit of help. Please? [Coordinates send] "I'll be there in 5!" Johnny put his phone back in his backpocket and jumped from the chair, running out of the afterlife without explaining a thing to anybody. Patrons looked after him, shaking their heads.

He jumped on his bike and cursed as it won't start at first, a second try and the engine dies down again, Johnny was too nervous. At third try the deep roar finally let the bike start and Johnny headed down the road towards the coordinates Vince send him. Johnny didn't paid much attention to the traffic on the road, cutting edges and going full speed. At the coordinates he stops on a big parking lot of an old Petrochem warehouse. He could see traces of a fight, shutdown alarms and cameras. The usual way Vince was fighting. Johnny draws his pistol and slowly sneaked inside the warehouse. He was on edge, expecting gang members on every corner, but he only found dead bodies of Maelstromer members. Not a living soul around. He headed deeper into the warehouse, hearing a faint coughing sound. Oh no. His steps got faster, following the sound of the coughing. No.

Johnny gulped down as he found the origin of the sound. Vince was sitting with his back to a wall, surrounded by corpses of Maelstromer, and a big puddle of blood. Johnny never saw him down like this, he paces through the blood and bodyparts and kneels down before Vince. "Jesus! What the hell happened here? Vince? Speak to me, please." Vince opens his eyes and takes a sharp breath in "Hi Johnny.". He looks at Johnny with a small pained smile, before he looks down on himself. One hand pressed firmly to his side, were a big amount of blood was leaking. "Yeah... may were a few to many from them, hu?" Vince let his head fall back against the wall and a dark laugh escapes him "Fuck..." Johnny lookes over Vince body and nearly puked as he sees the big wound on Vince' body. "Hold on, Vince. Just... I call Trauma! I am gonna pay for it!", hasty and with quivering hands Johnny pulled out his phone and dialed for Trauma. They didn't were premium costumers, but they were known and rich enough to get on the line. His leg begins to tremble as he waits for the other side to confirm that they are on the way. Finally. The timestamp was starting.

"Two Minutes, Vince! Promise me to hang on for two minutes! Please.", Johnny was tearing up. The lone thought of losing Vince was making him ill to the core. "Dunno, Johnny. Cannot promise, that I have that much." Vince takes a deep, sharp breath, trembling under it. He opens his eyes again, smiling at Johnny "Atleast I can see you again." "NO!" Johnny was pacing around Vince, closely watching him, making sure he doesn't lose his consciousness. "It's gonna be alright! Promise me to stay with me!" "Mmh. It is so good to see you again, sweetheart." Vince trembles with every breath, a pained expression in his face. He looks down on himself once more "Got a bad feeling they got my lungs. Or my heart. Maybe both." Vince closes his eyes again. "You are not going to die! Not today! You will survice, you are a though bastard! You have faced death before! In so much worse state!" Johnny kneels down next to Vince again, taking his hand into hisown. The first tears start to drop, and he feels like his heart was ripped out of his chest. The one person he truely loved, that made him feel the best way, was about to die. Was it all for nothing? All the risks they took against Arasaka to safe both their lifes? "Mmh, I know Johnny, I know. I love you." Vince exhales, slower with each breath. A coughing fit hitting him hard after the last breath. Johnny could only watch, seing Vince like that reminds him badly on the time with the relic. "I love you too, Vince." Johnny voice was nearly breaking and he gulps down the bad feeling, the urge to puke. Suddenly three members of Traumateam jumped through the roof and land exactly next to Johnny, they look at Vince and nod. "Take a step back, Mister.", a sharp voice speak to Johnny. In pure defense he holds up his hands and takes a step back. They injected some medicial first aid into his airway before they picked him up to put him on a stretcher. "You are gonna be alright, kid. Just keep breathing and stay awake." "Yes sir." Vince murmurs with a slight chuckle, his eyes closed. He points in the direction of Johnny "He's gonna come with us. He's my husband."

"You heard him. Come on."

They all got into the AV. Vince was laid down on a platform and Trauma started to work on his overall state. Johnny sat silently next to Vince, holding his hand and hoping for the best. "We'll be taking you back to the hospital where you can get some intensive care. You'll make it. Just stay with us." The flight made Johnny only more nervous, seing the heartmonitor and hearing the beeping of it. It wasn't regular at all. His left legs starts wiping again. Vince took short sharp and jerkingly breaths, but he smiled at Johnny softly the whole way The Traumateam fastly applied the first aid, and soon they were at the Hospital. They picked up the stretcher with Vince and lifting him up to a more transportable version. His body already on tubes and wires. They let Johnny follow them into the operation room. The medics rushed in right away and started to work on Vince. Johnny sat on a nearby seat, watching them. His mind was everywhere, running wild. So much was going through his head. But he had to hold it together and keep Vince together. Vince was the only thing that mattered to him right now. Vince was still bleeding heavy, and already lost far too much blood. The med-team started to apply synthblood to his body, but also start cursing. The operation seems to be much more complex then it seems beforehand. The tech was beeping, loud and alarming, as his body refuses to work with the synthblood. He stays on the verge of collapsing. And if he weren't on the verge of dying, Vince voice was as optimistic as always. His gaze on Johnny and a small smile on his face "Johnny?" His husband was again in pure panic and shock. Watching Traumateam and the doctors try to keep Vince alive, but clearly failing with it. Johnny gulped down and his eyes finally meet again with Vince's "Vince. Please. Don't... don't go." He put a hand on Vince arm and looks pleading at him. The tears start to dwell in his eyes again.The cursing of the team get louder, it get more hectic in the room. They still keep up their long trained routine. But the blood pressure didn't stabilize at all, and his heart rate was sinking on really bad levels "Johnny. Hey, babe." Vince puts his hand over Johnnys and smiled fondly. "I need you to be strong for our son, yeah? You have to protect him, our lil Jackie." "V-Vince." Johnny looks at him, his body shaking from holding back to sob and cry out loud. "No. Please. Don't let me ... I can't... I...." Vince took a long deep breath, collecting the rest of his force to speak to his soulmate. He could already feel how his body was giving in, but he needed a few more minutes. "Johnny. Promise me. Promise me to remember all the good times we had together." Vince slowly sits up on the edge of the bed, ignoring the warnings of the doctors and the burning pain from within his body. His time was up so no need for holding back.

"Hey." Vince smiles softly. He places both hands on Johnnys cheeks and wipes away the tears. "I know it's hard. But I believe in you, babe. You can do it. And I know, it's not fair, god I wish I could do anything against it." Vince takes a long deep breath and grithes his teeth together. A bad wave of pain was hitting him right now. In an attempt to sooth them both, Vince leans forward and puts his forehead against Johnnys, his right hand on Johnnys cheek, his left on the edge of the bed to give himself more stability. Despite all the pain he was in he smiled softly at Johnny, a loving gaze in his eyes. "I don't want this either Johnny. But I am glad for what we had. You remember our time in japan?" "Yes." Johnny was gulping down and his voice nearly breaking. "We had so much... the whole world was ours to take on. We are on the top of Night City, the powercouple we always dreamed off. I ... Vince, please. I can't do this without you." "You can do this, Johnny. You have to. Jackson needs you as his dad."

Vince slowly caress over Johnnys cheek in a circular motion, but his strength was fading and his body trembling. "I love you, Johnny. And I don't regret one minute of our time together. It was truely the life I always dreamed of." "I... I cant.", Johnnys tears were flowing freely by now, his breath hitchy and in a state of denial. "I don't wanna do this. I can't do any of this without you, Vinny."

Johnnys tears subsided slowly, but he was still shaking. His whole world was breaking. He was losing everything he ever fought for. His love, his friend, his soulmate. He had nothing left. He was hollow.

"Vince, you mean everything to me. Please. Don't go." "I know. You are everything to me, Johnny. And I could never forget our time together. You were always like a brother to me and than suddenly it was so much more." A soft but pained laugh escapes Vince on the memories. "I still remember your shocked face when I just kissed you in the middle of the desert." Johnny laughed softly between his sobs. "You were always so unpredictable, it's what I loved most about you." Johnny looks over at the heart monitor and sighs. "So. V. This is it, huh?"

Vince let out a sad sigh, was Johnny was seeing on the monitor was he long feeling. All his organs were about to fail, his body on the verge of finally collapsing.

"Yeah. This is it." He places a small kiss on Johnnys lips "I love you, don't ever forget this."

"I love you too, V. And I will never forget you." Johnny kissed him and this was truely the most painful kiss he had ever endured. A kiss filled with pain and sorrow. His right hand brushes through Vince' hair.

Vince smiles softly "Love you more." The pain skyrockets through his body, the last attempt to stay alive. "See ya in Afterlife, Johnny. I'll wait for you~" "See ya in Afterlife, V." Johnny held onto the bed as he watches Vince take his final breath. The monitor in the back made a loud beeping sound, as his organs died down. Everything was falling apart. Johnny was alone.

[wolfanddragon98]

@dreaming-for-an-escape

But before Darlene had been able to grab her underwear, Jonathan had got to them first. He put them into the backpocket of his pants as he redressed himself. Darlene had no idea how he was able to look so put together after he had fucked her on his kitchen counter. She swallowed, rubbing at the back of her neck.

“Jonathan, my underwear…”

“I’ll give them back to you when we’re done.”

At her surprised face he laughed. 

“You think we were just gonna have a quickie and that’s it? Oh my darling.” Jonathan kissed her warm pink cheek. “You really are adorable. Now spread your legs for me.” He ordered as he got on his knees and went below her skirt before she could rebuttal.

Darlene’s thighs shaking and the crying out of his name after breathing on her moist core made him lick his lips. “I’m craving something sweet.”